This invention relates to surgical retractors and in particular, surgical retractors which retract muscle and soft tissue from an operative site during spinal surgery and the installation of spinal prosthesis.
Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such material by virtue of prior invention.
US Patent Application Publication US 2007/0106123A1, to Gorek et al, filed Sep. 26, 2006, the content of which are incorporated herein by reference thereto and relied upon, describes such a retractor. Although suitable for minimally invasive surgery, the Gorek device suffers from the need for special tools to remove the retractor elongate members or blades 8.
What is needed is a retractor and method suitable for minimally invasive surgery which does not require special tools and which is otherwise easy to remove after it's purposes are served.